I don't think I could run without music, I'm a 30-something mum of two with happy memories of clubbing, gigging and cheesy discos behind me. I run to hard house and if I'm struggling I take my mind back to the club and reach for the lasers, a bit mad maybe but whatever helps me push on.

On my first run I hadn't quite got my head round how the BBC/NHS app music feature works and ended up doing "shuffle all" on my entire music library. So the playlist went a bit like this:

- The Beatles, Hey Jude

- Royal Blood, Better Strangers

- Gypsy Kings, Bamboleo

- Muse, Time Is Running Out

- Beastie Boys, Pass The Mic

- UB40, If It Happens Again

- the Offspring, Staring At The Sun

and finally to really motivate me:

- Whistle While You Work from Snow White (yes I have kids)

It was an interesting run(/walk)!

I found a 70's disco workout mix on iTunes last week and it's brilliant, all the happiness of classic disco sped up to a rave pace. I love it!

I imagine music is important to most runners and am interested to hear what others are doing with their running playlist....

30 Replies

Oh I completely agree! I constantly need to make new playlists and adapt current ones before I do a run! My tastes in running music vary a lot - punk / metal / hip-hop / dance. I may try some hard house as well as I'd imagine it is right motivating! At the moment I seem to have a lot of Destiny's Child on the playlists I'm making haha.

For me it's mainly 80s rock which floats my boat. Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Guns n Roses also a bit of Bangles, Transvision Vamp and Voice of the Beehive. I am a trained singer and singing along helps my breathing. As I run at the gym I hope I am not sin ginger out loud 🤐

Bon jovi, Someday I'll be Saturday night, Sleep When I'm Dead. Def Leppard-Pour some Sugar on Me, Bangles-In Your Room, Survivor-Burning Heart, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Anyway you Want it, We Built this City, We'retain not gonna Take it, I love Rock and Roll. All these have helped me run. Don't really use them to pace but singing with them helps the breathing. I try and place some motivational tracks at points I find hard.

I've only listened to C25K, C25K+ and Audiofuel Polyrunner so far while running.

My tastes in music range through jazz, classical, rock and roll, blues, and heavy metal. I like groupes as diverse as Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Jethro Tull, Rolling Stones, Guns and Roses, Eagles, Lynard Skynard, Deep Purple, Rainbow. Not sure how I would feel about running to that music though. Maybe give it a try sometime

My playlist consists of a variety of songs from Iron Maiden for speed and different cadences from the U.S. Marine Corps (really motivates me with longer runs). I had to run a half marathon last year with no music as I found out just before the start that my music app wasn't functioning. Now I have a mp3 player that I use for most runs and the music app for back-up.

Depending on the type of running that I am doing I may or may not run to the beat. Currently, I am doing heart rate training and as a result my heat rate will get to be too high, really quickly. When I first started racing 5k's, I would always run to beat of the USMC cadences. At that time I was completing 5k's in 23 minutes. It really helped me to keep a constant pace.

I definitely have to run to music - if it's the new week of repeats runs then I'll listen to Laura the first time then my own music for the next two runs. Yesterday's run was helped by Guns & Roses, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Raconteurs, Kasabian, Rage Against the Machine and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. On other days, I'll go for the dance option but I can't ever imagine feeling happy running to just the sound of my own laboured heavy breathing (no-one needs to hear that!)

Oh god yeah my music played up in last nights run and I hated listening to myself while fiddling with the app! Black Rebel Motorcycle Club! I bought an album of theirs in Australia twelve years ago and listened to it every day until I came home , memories...